#Outsidemagazine recently published #insta_repeat, an instagram account dedicated to to portraying the replication of art and creativity.

I was instantly drawn to this sentiment. Recently, wife and I have been discussing the pros and cons of entering a social media break for this very reason, to see exactly where our creativity would go if we had no input or influence from others. What images and creativity and thoughts would we have, in what direction would they wander?

We talked well into the night.

But then, as it often happens, I went to bed and she stayed up. She ended up heading back to the post to read the comments.

She found this one:

“So what?” What a great question.

So what if we duplicate, if we find inspiration and innovation from those around us? So what if we imitate them, model them, and join them in their creative pursuits? So what?

It's easy to mock or scoff at all the perceived wanna-be's out there. "Be original!" we might say, because nobody likes a poser and everyone wants to be uniquely different. Just not too different. Because we also don't want to be alone, misunderstood, or an outcast. We want community and relationships and to be included. We want to be known.

"Being original," Adam Grant writes, "doesn't mean being first. It just means being different and better" (via). It means learning and absorbing from those around us while using our individuality and identity to progress an idea or truth beyond its current state.

And that is exactly what is happening in so many areas of life and art and #insta_repeat, people are finding connection and community by embracing and participating in a movement, an idea, or a trend because it makes them feel part of something bigger than themselves, in their own unique way. Just like everybody else.

Maybe there’s two types of people in the world: those people who favor humans over ideology, and those people who favor ideology over humans. I favor humans over ideology, but right now, the ideologues are winning, and they’re creating a stage for constant artificial high dramas where everybody’s either a magnificent hero or a sickening villain, even though we know that’s not true about our fellow humans. What’s true is that we are clever and stupid; what’s true is that we’re grey areas. The great thing about social media was how it gave a voice to voiceless people, but we’re now creating a surveillance society, where the smartest way to survive is to go back to being voiceless.

What a challenging TED Talk. I especially loved the contrast between what social media’s intention, to connect us all through our faults and mistakes, and the reality of what it has become. Namely, a stage to celebrate our false perfection and a spear to hunt people. So we can hang them with their shameful secrets.